An Etsy seller has been listing items described as 'vintage' and 'antique' manacles and shackles from the slave trade.
The items have sold as recently as Wednesday 27 January, and more than 20 have been sold so far.
Whilst Etsy's policy permits the sale of historical items, so long as they do not promote or glorify hate or violence, one expert on the subject believes that the sale of items from the slave trade should be regulated in the same way that items of Nazi memorabilia and items from the Holocaust are banned in many countries.
Jean Francois Manicom, curator of Transatlantic Slavery and Legacies at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, said: "The tricky thing is that there are no rules about items related to slavery.
"For example, there is legislation and regulations about Nazi stuff, you can't buy Nazi memorabilia, you cannot buy items relating to Shoah [the Holocaust] in several countries either,
"Unfortunately, there is no rule relating to items related with slavery so the private market is open to that sort of thing.
"That said, there is a real market for items connected with slavery, because it is painful and sensitive."
Even though he believes these items to be fake - horse shackles from Eastern Europe, as a guess - Manicom believes there is a more important point to be made about the sale of anything purported to have been used during one of humanity's darkest times.
He said: "In this market there is a lot of fake and reproduced stuff and a lot of modern replicas that are for sale in the US.
"In the case of the Etsy ones, I think that they are fake, I don't know if it's a total lack of knowledge from the seller or if it's the case that the seller sincerely thinks that they are related to slavery, but they are not.
"My position - it's not the position of ISM - is that we really need a kind of framework to protect this type of item, in order to keep them [genuine artefacts] for public collections and public understanding.
"Definitely, it would be more helpful, more logical, and more ethical to have a rule on this, because it's a painful memory."
He added: "Sometimes, when it is a real item, and it's arrived on the private market it is a shame and that's really sad."
"It [the selling of the items] is all for money. There are not a lot of traces of slavery, it's a long and painful story, but there are not a lot of traces or evidence.
"There are very few items, so there is a real speculation around the memorabilia.
He concluded: "The market around the painful story of slavery is very interesting, and needs a big paper or book written about it to compare it to the other kinds of painful memories like Shoah or the Second World War."
Whilst they declined to make an official comment, Etsy explained that they were reviewing the items in the online shop, but said that it appeared that the items were historical in nature, which is allowed.
They explained that anything found to be in contravention of their prohibited items policy will be removed.
That policy states that: "Etsy does not allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred towards people or otherwise demean people based upon: race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation (collectively, "protected groups").
"We also prohibit items or content that promote organisations or people with such views."
"The following items are not allowed on Etsy: Items that support or commemorate current or historical hate groups, including propaganda or collectibles.
"1. Examples of hate groups include Nazi or Neo-Nazi groups, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) groups, white supremacist groups, misogynist groups, or groups that advocate anti-gay, anti-immigrant, or Holocaust denial agendas.
"2. Items that contain racial slurs or derogatory terms in reference to protected groups."
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LADbible has contacted the retailer for comment.
Featured Image Credit: EtsyTopics: World News, History, Weird